On the following morning, after an early breakfast, we set out for
London; where we safely arrived on the evening of the same day. At the
outset of the journey my father appeared to be in tolerably good
spirits, conversing with much animation upon the subject--which he had
introduced--of my future career. I explained to him that my great
desire was, and had been for some time, to become a sailor; and that I
hoped he would be able to see his way to forward my views. Contrary, I
must confess, to my expectations, my father raised no objections,
stipulating only that I should enter the naval service; and he promised
me that he would use his best efforts to secure my nomination as a
midshipman; but he cautioned me that, as he scarcely knew to whom to
apply for this service, I might have to wait some time for the
gratification of my wishes. The conversation which settled this, to me,
important matter took place in the forenoon, the subject being finally
disposed of and dismissed just as we alighted for luncheon. On the
resumption of our journey the conversation was by no means so lively,
and it distressed me much to observe that my father was gradually
sinking back into the same strange moody state of mind which had
possessed him on the previous day. I made several efforts to win him
back to a more cheerful condition, but they were quite ineffectual; and,
after receiving two or three increasingly impatient replies, I was
compelled to abandon the attempt. For several days the same
unsatisfactory state of affairs continued, my father and I only meeting
at breakfast and dinner, and then exchanging scarcely half a dozen words
beyond the ordinary courtesies; I was therefore not only considerably
surprised but much gratified when he one morning informed me that he had
succeeded in securing my appointment as midshipman on board the frigate
_Hermione_, then about to sail for the West Indies. He added that there
was no time to lose if I wished to go out in her; and that it would
consequently be necessary for us to set out for Portsmouth on the
following morning. This promptitude was rather more than I had
bargained for; notwithstanding my father's very peculiar behaviour I was
much attached to him, and had hoped to have enjoyed at least a month or
two of his society; moreover, I felt very anxious as to his peculiar
condition, and would fain have remained with him until I could have seen
some improvement in his mental state; but, on my mentioning this, he
seemed so singularly averse to any delay of my departure that I saw
nothing for it but to acquiesce.
A week later I had joined my ship, and on November 18th, 1796, we were
bowling down channel under double-reefed topsails.
We duly arrived at our destination--Port Royal, Jamaica--after a tedious
passage of over two months' duration; and, having landed our despatches,
were ordered to cruise between Cape Tiburon and the Virgin Islands.
By this time I had pretty well settled down into my proper place, had
ceased to be the butt of the other midshipmen; and, having a real liking
for my duties, had learned to perform them pretty satisfactorily. Mr
Reid, the first lieutenant, had expressed the opinion that I "shaped
well." But, even before our arrival at Jamaica, I had made the
unwelcome discovery that the _Hermione_ was by no means likely to prove
a comfortable ship. The vessel herself there was no fault whatever to
find with; she was a noble frigate of thirty-two guns, very fast, and a
splendid sea-boat. But the skipper--Captain Pigot--was a regular
tartar. He was a tall, powerful man, and would have been handsome but
for his somewhat bloated features. Even to his officers he was
arrogant, overbearing, and discourteous to an almost unbearable degree;
to the men he was simply an unmitigated tyrant. There was certainly
some excuse for severity of discipline and occasional loss of temper,
had it gone no further than that, for our crew was, as a whole, the
worst I have ever had the misfortune to be associated with, several of
them being foreigners, and of the remainder a good sprinkling were men
who had been _sentenced_ by the magistrates _to serve the King_.
Possibly in other and more patient hands they might have developed into
a good smart body of men, and such it was doubtless the skipper's hope
and intention to make them. But he most unfortunately went the wrong
way to work. Punishment was his doctrine; the "cat" was his sovereign
remedy for all evils. He flogged almost daily, even for the most
trivial offences, and our "black list" was probably the longest in the
navy for a ship of our size. As might be expected, with a captain of
this kind, we poor unfortunate mids were constantly in trouble, and the
greater part of our time was spent at the mast-heads.
One afternoon--it was on the 22nd of March, 1797--being off Zaccheo, the
lookout aloft reported that a brig and several smaller vessels were at
anchor inshore between that island and the larger one of Porto Rico.
The first lieutenant thereupon at once went aloft with his telescope,
where he made a thorough examination of the strangers and their
position; having completed which to his satisfaction, he returned to the
deck and made his report to Captain Pigot. The ship's head was
immediately directed inshore; and the pinnace, first and second cutters,
and gig were ordered away, under lieutenants Reid and Douglas, to go in,
as soon as the ship had anchored, and cut out the vessels. Mr Reid,
with whom, I think, I was somewhat of a favourite, kindly selected me to
take charge of the gig; and young Courtenay, my especial chum, was
fortunate enough to be chosen by Mr Douglas to command the second
cutter. By Courtenay's advice, I procured from the armourer a ship's
cutlass, to replace my almost useless dirk; and having carefully loaded
and primed a very excellent pair of pistols with which my father had
presented me, I thrust those useful articles into my belt and hastened
on deck, just as the frigate was rounding to preparatory to anchoring.
A couple of minutes later the anchor was let go abreast of and scarcely
half a mile distant from a small battery, the guns of which commanded
the vessels we were about to attack, and the canvas was very smartly
clewed up and furled.
The men were still aloft when the battery, which had hoisted Spanish
colours, opened fire upon us, the first shot severing our larboard main-
topgallant back-stay. This damage, slight as it was, sufficed to
effectually rouse Captain Pigot's hasty, irritable temper; and, hurrying
the men down from aloft, he ordered the larboard broadside to be manned,
and the guns to be directed upon the audacious battery. A couple of
well-directed broadsides sufficed to silence its fire, and the boats
were then immediately piped away.
"Mark my words, Lascelles," said Courtenay, as we trundled down the
ship's side together, "we are going to have a tough time of it with
those craft in there; three of them have boarding nettings triced up,
and are evidently preparing to give us a warm reception. They look like
privateers, and if so, I daresay they are full of men, who will have
ample opportunity to bowl us over at their leisure whilst we are pulling
in upon them. And we shall have no help from the frigate's guns, for
the rascals are beyond their reach."
"Now then, Courtenay, no croaking, young gentleman, if you please, or I
shall be under the painful necessity of sending you back on board, and
taking Mr Maxwell in your place," said Mr Douglas, who was following
us down the side, and who happened to overhear Courtenay's encouraging
remarks.
"Oh, no, sir, you can't be so heartless as to do that; have some
consideration for my feelings," laughed Courtenay; and flinging himself
down in the stern-sheets of the boat, he drew his cutlass, and affected
to be very cautiously feeling its edge, to the covert amusement of the
men who happened to see him.
"It's a'most sharp enough for you to shave with, ain't it, sir?"
demurely inquired the smart fore-topman, who was stroke-oar in
Courtenay's boat, at which there was another grin; Courtenay's chin
being as guiltless of hair as the back of a lady's hand, notwithstanding
which it was whispered that he assiduously shaved every morning with his
penknife.
"Now, are we all ready, Douglas?" asked Mr Reid, as he stood in the
stern-sheets of the pinnace, and ran his eye critically over the boats.
"Then, shove off; let fall and give way, lads. Lascelles and I will
tackle the brig, Mr Douglas, whilst I must leave you and Mr Courtenay
to give a good account of those two schooners which have hoisted their
colours. We will take matters quietly, so as to spare the men as much
as possible, until the shot begins to drop round us, when we must make a
dash and get on board as quickly as we can."
Courtenay's assumption that the three vessels we had marked out for
attack were privateers was speedily strengthened by the circumstance
that boats were seen to put off from the smaller craft--doubtless prizes
of the others--conveying what were probably the prize-crews back to
their own ships, to assist in their defence. As we neared the land we
made out that the people in the battery were still standing to their
guns, and we momentarily expected them to open fire upon us; but they
were wise enough to refrain, evidently having already had a sufficient
experience of the frigate's broadsides, the destructive effects of which
became distinctly visible as we pulled past.
Upon our arriving abreast the battery, the brig and the two schooners,
for which we were heading, having got springs upon their cables and
hoisted French colours, brought their broadsides to bear upon us, and
commenced firing, whereupon we separated, taking "open order," as the
marines say, so as to offer as small a mark as possible. It was the
first time I had "smelt powder," and as the shot began to hum past us, I
must plead guilty to having at the outset experienced a certain amount
of nervous trepidation. I had an idea that every shot would find its
mark, that "every bullet has its billet," and I momentarily expected to
feel the crushing blow which would tell me that I had been hit. But on
we swept, the shot flying close over our heads, or just past us on
either side, occasionally striking the water within such near proximity
as to dash a little shower of spray right over the boat, and presently
the musketry bullets came whistling about our ears, yet we remained
unscathed. This opened my eyes, and gave me a juster appreciation than
I had had before of the perils of warfare. I saw that it was by no
means the necessarily deadly thing I had hitherto imagined it to be, and
my courage came back to me, my spirits rising momentarily higher in
response to the increasing excitement of the occasion. For we were now
dashing forward upon our several quarries at racing speed, the men
straining at the oars until the stout ashen staves bent like willow
wands, and the water buzzed and foamed and bubbled, hissing past us in a
regular series of miniature whirlpools, whilst the boats seemed every
now and then as though they were about to be lifted clear out of the
water by the herculean efforts of their panting crews.
Once within musket-shot of the vessels, a very few minutes at this pace
sufficed us to cover the remaining distance, when we dashed alongside--
the first lieutenant ranging up on the brig's starboard quarter, whilst
we in the gig took her in the larboard fore-chains--and a stubborn hand-
to-hand fight immediately commenced. The craft we had attacked proved
to be full of people; and upon our attempting to board, we found that
they had been divided into two distinct parties, one of which was
successfully opposing Mr Reid, whilst the other seemed determined at
all costs to prevent my own little party from gaining a footing upon the
deck. Twice were we forced back into the boat, and I saw that two or
three of the men were bleeding from pike or bullet wounds. A third time
we made the attempt, and as I was scrambling up into the brig's channels
a Frenchman thrust his pike through a port at me. I grasped the weapon,
and partly through my antagonist's efforts to wrench it away again, and
partly with the aid of a friendly push behind from one of our own lads,
I suddenly found myself shot in through the port, and safely landed on
the brig's deck. Springing to my feet in an instant, I laid fiercely
about me with my cutlass, and thus cleared a way for the gig's crew to
follow me. In less than a minute the gigs were in possession of the
fore part of the deck, and so quickly was the thing done, and with such
good-will did our lads lay about them, that the party opposed to us
recoiled in a sudden panic. Taking instant advantage of this, we
charged them with a wild hurrah, whereupon they fairly turned tail and
fled before us, rushing helter-skelter in among the other party. The
whole body of defenders being thus thrown into disorder, the first
lieutenant's party managed to make good their footing on deck; and then,
after one desperate but ineffectual charge on the part of the Frenchmen,
we had no further trouble, the defenders throwing down their weapons and
calling for quarter. This was, of course, at once accorded them, and
they were ordered below, the hatches being clapped over them, whilst the
ship was subjected to an overhaul. She proved to be both empty and old,
besides being apparently a particularly leaky tub; she was consequently
valueless, and except for the purpose of destroying her, and thus
putting a stop to her depredations, not worth the trouble of taking.
This fact definitely ascertained, Mr Reid ordered the crew on deck
again; and, giving them five minutes in which to collect their personal
belongings, directed them to take the brig's boats and make the best of
their way ashore. The crew thus got rid of, the vessel herself was
effectually set on fire in three places, and as soon as the flames had
taken such a hold as to prevent all possibility of their extinction we
left her.
Meanwhile, the second lieutenant and Courtenay had been equally
successful with ourselves, each having captured one of the schooners
without very much difficulty. They proved, however, to be, like the
brig, very old and weak, having evidently been strained all to pieces in
the effort to make them perform services for which they were never
built. They, therefore, were also set on fire. And as for their
prizes, they consisted of half a dozen wretched little dirty coasters,
the largest of which could not have measured over sixty tons. Their
crews, we were informed, had been landed on various parts of the coast,
so, their lawful owners not being there to take possession of them,
these craft were likewise devoted to the flames. By the time that the
Frenchmen had all been got rid of, and the little fleet effectually set
on fire, it had fallen dark, and all hands being pretty well tired out,
we made the best of our way back to the frigate. We had eight hands
wounded in this skirmish, all the wounds proving fortunately of a very
trifling character, so much so indeed that not one of the wounded was
put on the sick list for even a single day.
The _Hermione_ remained at anchor all night; and on the following
morning Mr Douglas, with a boat's crew, went on shore, drove the small
garrison out of the fort, and spiked and dismounted the guns.
Thus, harmlessly, so far at least as I was concerned, ended my first
brush with the enemy; and though I never heard anything further of the
affair, I received the gratifying information that the first lieutenant
had spoken very highly of my conduct on the occasion when making his
report to Captain Pigot.